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Study: Dioxin causes disease in subsequent generations
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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The people of Vietnam are still suffering the terrible consequences of the American use of Agent Orange, a chemical weapon containing a mixture of herbicides and defoliants designed to destroy vegetation in areas where enemy forces were believed to be hiding, during the Vietnam War.
The name comes from the color of the barrels in which the explosive mixture was transported.
Poisonous dioxin (an ecotoxicant with powerful immunosuppressant, carcinogenic, mutagenic and embryotoxic effects), which is contained in the herbicide, is capable of penetrating the receptors of living organisms and changing or suppressing their vital functions. They cause large-scale disruptions in all metabolic processes, suppressing the work of the human immune system.
But despite the fact that American experts have begun work to clean up the toxic mixture in Vietnam, researchers from the University of Washington claim that even if dioxin is somehow miraculously wiped off the face of the Earth, its devastating effects will continue to haunt them for years to come.
Ngayen Thi Thai (left) and Ngayen Thi Thuyet sit in wheelchairs outside their home.
Data obtained by scientists in experiments with pregnant rats that were injected with dioxin indicate that the chemical's effects extend to several subsequent generations. The first litter of animals was born with prostate disease and polycystic ovary disease.
To the surprise of scientists, the third generation of rodents was born with even greater disorders: the females had serious ovarian diseases, and the males had kidney diseases.
Tran Van Hoang crawls on all fours toward his home. The U.S. government says the number of people affected by Agent Orange is far smaller and that the Vietnamese are wrong to blame the U.S.
"So it's not just the person who has had contact with the toxic substance who suffers, but also subsequent generations who may experience the destructive effects of dioxin in adulthood," says biologist Michael Skinner, an expert in reproductive biology.
Skinner and colleagues' current research focuses on epigenetic diseases that develop from exposure to hydrocarbon compounds such as jet fuel, pesticides, fungicides, plastics, and dioxin.
Son Ngayen Tri Lam (foreground) and his sister Ngayen Thi Hang sit at home in Cam Lo, Vietnam. Their hands are tied behind their backs to prevent them from hurting themselves.
While the science of epigenetics provides a broader understanding of various diseases and reproductive abnormalities, toxicologists focus primarily on changes in the bodies of animals that become subjects in scientists' experiments and are directly exposed to factors that provoke diseases.
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